Monday, August 30, 2010
Sacto a Pathetic Spectacle
Politics Chris Thompson — Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 8:54 AM
Nothing could be more depressing than a piece in today's Chron, in which the state leaders, frankly, aren't even trying to resolve the $19 billion budget deficit. In years past, such as the annis horribilis that was 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the legislature's leaders at least met in person and tried to figure out a compromise. But this year, the governor has called a meeting of the "Big Five" only once, and that lasted less than an hour. That's as the budget enters its 61st day overdue. Wyatt Buchanan reports that neither the governor nor the Democratic and Republican leaders have any leverage over one another anymore, and each side is simply going to present a competing budget for a vote, which will obviously lose, since neither side has a two-thirds majority. As the state prepares to issue IOUs again, Sacramento leaders seem to have simply given up.
At least UC Berkeley seems to be doing better. In a back-to-school remark last week, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said that the school's budget is considerably in the black, and he's ready to start hiring faculty and expanding classes. What happened? First, last year's crisis spooked wealthy alumni into giving tons of cash to bail out their alma mater. Second, that 32 percent tuition bump flushed a lot more money into the coffers. See what happens when you squeeze students and raise student fees so high that poor kids are effectively locked out of a public university? Everything starts coming up roses, apparently.
UPDATE: Cal spokesman Dan Mogulof read this post and wrote to remind me of something I'd forgotten: that one third of all tuition has been set aside for student financial aid, which considerably erodes my casual remark that low-income students are getting the shaft. Mogulof added that a higher percentage of students from families earning less than $45,000 a year are expected to attend UC Berkeley this year, and concluded, "The demographic that really gets hit hard are [sic] middle class families who are not affluent enough to afford additional costs, and too affluent to be eligible for things like Pell and Cal grants."
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Cal senator DeSaulnier refutes figures published in Contra Costa Times (krupnick) on decline of Latino enrollment UC Berkeley 2010 in letter dated sept 9. Senator's figure -0.4% senator says requires no action on his behalf. Contact Senator 925 942 6082 916 651 4007
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dislikeUC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau is spending $3,000,000 on consultants to do the work of his job when the work of the consultants can be done by the ethical world class faculty and staff, Sorry Tale of UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Office: easily grasped by the public, lost on University of California’s President Yudof. The UC Berkley budget gap has grown to $150 million, & still the Chancellor is spending money that isn't there on $3,000,000 consultants. His reasons range from the need for impartiality to requiring the consultants "thinking, expertise, & new knowledge".
Does this mean that the faculty & management of UC Berkeley – flagship campus of the greatest public system of higher education in the world - lack the knowledge, integrity, impartiality, innovation, skills to come up with solutions? Have they been fudging their research for years? The consultants will glean their recommendations from faculty interviews & the senior management that hired them; yet $ 150 million of inefficiencies and solutions could be found internally if the Chancellor & Provost Breslauer were doing the work of their jobs (This simple point is lost on UC’s leadership).
The victims of this folly are Faculty and Students. $ 3 million consultant fees would be far better spent on students & faculty.
There can be only one conclusion as to why inefficiencies & solutions have not been forthcoming from faculty & staff: Chancellor Birgeneau has lost credibility & the trust of the faculty & Academic Senate leadership (C. Kutz, F. Doyle). Even if the faculty agrees with the consultants' recommendations - disagreeing might put their jobs in jeopardy - the underlying problem of lost credibility & trust will remain. (Context: greatest recession in modern times)
Contact your representatives in Sacramento: tell them of the hefty self-serving $’s being spent by UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau & Provost Breslauer.
Let ther be light
Chris Thompson’s inappropriate comments about UC’s fee increases locking poor kids out of a public university are quite simply wrong. First, for any California student with financial need whose family earns less than $70,000 a year, UC’s Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan covers fees in their entirety through scholarships and grants. As importantly, because at UC one-third of all fee increases are put back into financial aid, fee increases allow us to enhance the amount of aid available to help offset the costs of housing, food, books, etc., for those students who need financial aid. While everyone’s fees go up, this “return to aid” policy helps keep the total cost of college down for those from low-income families. At UC Berkeley, the proof of our success at providing access to students from low-income families is that this year some 9300 students, about 37% of our undergraduate student body, the highest level ever, are eligible for federal Pell grants, that is, they come from families with incomes under $45,000. Berkeley’s Pell Grant students exceed the total number of such students at all the Ivy League universities plus Stanford combined. With the withdrawal of state funding, increased fees are necessary to cover the costs of offering our students an excellent education. Our fee structure guarantees both access and excellence.
While the tuition increase did add more funds to UCB, the students who benefited the most are the poorest students. Students from families who are Pell elibile (make under 45K combined income) receive the most financial aid (understandably) and the additional tuition money allows for more financial aid to be given out to all UCB students. UCB is actually educating a higher percentage of Pell eligible (>45K) students this year than last. This doesn't mean the tuition increase has not added more stress to already spread thin students, but this article makes a false assertion; they are not locked out.
The middle class students are the ones being the most adversely affected, and the Chancellor acknowledges this in his 'Welcome Message' you reference.
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